Former Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo has informed the Selangor palace of his wish to surrender his ‘Dato Seri’ title in view of his ongoing graft trial.

However, Khir stressed that his letter to the palace states that he only wished to "temporarily" surrender the title.

azlan “The surrendering of the title is to avoid tainting and embarrassing the honorific title during the course of trial,” he said on a posting on his blog today.

Khir said that the royal council had consented to the surrender of the title.

“From today onwards, all media organisations and function organisers must remove the ‘Dato Seri’ prefix for my name and only use Dr Mohamad Khir bin Toyo,” he said.

On Dec 6, Khir was charged under Section 165 of the Penal Code for knowingly accepting a bribe, in form of two plots of land in Section 7, Shah Alam at a substantial discount from one Shamsuddin Haryoni. 

A lavish mansion now sits on the land, which his critics argue was above his means. 

Khir is confident that he will be able to clear his name in court and said that the deal was done in a willing buyer, willing seller basis. 

On the very same day, Khir resigned as state opposition leader. The post has been assumed by Sri Serdang state assemblyperson Satim Diman.

Following this, Khir was suspended from all his positions in the party pending the trial's conclusion.